I agree on the theme nights-thing. While I wouldn't watch Terminator if I lived in the US (because I dislike it) , I still enjoyed it when was I watching Buffy/Angel back to back (they called it scary night around here until they tore that night apart).

I think the big question what would happen if fans had to choose between watching a new episode of Dollhouse season 2 in October or going to see Cabin in the Woods at the cinema. I think that's wank we can all get behind.

That's a tough one. On the one hand, I prefer the cheaperness of matinees. On the other hand, I have a VCR. On the gripping hand, do you suppose there'd be a midnight showing on Thursday? Or is that only for crazy-big movies.

Hee hee @ Saje and Sunfire. And I would go for Dollhouse season 2 ep, because *ducks head in shame* I don't really know anything about Cabin in the Woods. Except... it's a movie... and Joss is involved. And I generally like series TV more than movies anyway.

“It’s genius, it’s funny. It’s got a harder and darker edge, but it’s also got classic Whedon qualities. It’ll rip your heart out and be heartfelt at the same time. There’s a reason the title is so straightforward. It’s its own sub-genre, the cabin in the woods, and this is sort of our take on it. It’s fresh and new.”
– Drew Goddard, MTV Movies Blog, 2008

Has anybody seen a promo for Dollhouse, now that mid-season promos are coming out in droves? It's too late now to tell me that it's too early. The "Scifi Friday Night" promotional theme was fan and critic (not always clearly different) conceived and driven, and still seems to be constant trope in these discussions, but has never come from Fox. Nor has any sign of a significant promotional effort, to reassure us that they will promote it decently, rather than just dumping it in a see-through grave.

I said I was fatigued, and I am. Empty, but restlessly energetic. Might be the radiation.

I get the best results using name brand foil for my anti-rad hat rather than the store brand. Sure, you might save a few pennies at first, but it's cheaper in the long run, plus it works great for wrapping up those Thanksgiving leftovers!

Okay, I think it's quite clear that FOX has lost convince in "Dollhouse", but I'm still hoping they're willing to give it a chance. Which is quite a differient situation that occurred with "Firefly", I think FOX doomed that one from the start.

Rhodey has a point with ITunes, but I would go one better. In this day and age it's not just the overnight ratings from Nielson that can determine a fate of the show. Any one who owns a DVR/TIVO is now a counted viewer. So here is a plan to make sure Dollhouse is renewed in 3 parts.

1) While watching it on Friday night, DVR/TIVO (if you can) it as well and watch it again in a day or two (these will not show up in the overnight ratings but they do get attached onto the weekly ratings). You may ask yourself does this really work, and the answer is now days, yes.

2) Watch it on hulu as many times during that episode's premiere week. This helps as well, not only because there is advertising revenue from it but because if you click on the ads you will be encouraging other advertisers to want to put ads on those episodes. A having advertisers interested in placing ads on a particular program will have the network looking at that program favorably. Plus bonus it's free to watch as many times as you want but don't forget to every so often click an ad.

3) As suggested above subscribe to the ITunes season, if this is a viable option for you. These sales are also reported and ad to the bottom line of a series ability to draw viewers and potential DVD sales figures according to some article there is a high number of ITunes purchasers who purchase the season on ITunes, who also buy the season DVD when they come out.

So there it is 3-fold plans of attack we can implement from the get go to let the viewers voice finally be heard, and not have to rely on only Nielson families to keep the shows we want on the air.

Err, just to be clear, anyone that owns a DVR and is a Nielsen household is counted as part of the DVR ratings - they don't have some magic way of counting DVR usage if you're not already being measured by Nielsen (if you are then it can't hurt to watch it live and watch it on DVR - no idea how they count double viewings but as I say, it certainly can't hurt).

Actually, DVR ratings from all households are counted, you do not have to be a Nielson family. Every show you record and then watch via DVR/Tivo sends data to your cable or sattelitte provider which is collected by Nielson to report on that is why there is a caveat to shows recorded must be watched within a week of it's record date to be included in the weekly ratings info. Overnight ratings are only collected from the top 20 markets and reported (these are the ones we typically see), the weekly ratings (which we don't see reported) is the accumlication of the data from all markets and now includes the data retrieved from the DVR/Tivo numbers.

Do you have a link confirming that RavenU ? I can see it happening with a subscription service like e.g. Tivo but any other DVR (e.g. one you just bought and hooked up yourself) isn't going to send details to anyone. Personally that'd be a subscription deal breaker for me, the loss of privacy wouldn't be worth the extra convenience but I realise most people don't care about their personal information so long as they still get their "bread and circuses".

As to weekly ratings, tvbythenumbers regularly publishes the Live, Live+SD and Live+7 numbers (respectively, those who watched Live, those who watched Live or watched a recording on the same day or those who watched Live or in the 7 days following the show's broadcast). The DVR numbers aren't a big secret or anything (though precisely how much they factor into the network's decision making is).

Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live + Same Day (Live+SD) and Live + 7 Day (Live+7). Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live + Same Day include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+ 7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.

That does refer to "when meters transmit daily viewing to Neilsen", and nothing else on the page (as near as I can tell) suggests any other method.

But, at the same time, if you Google for, say - tivo ratings nielsen - you'll find that Tivo numbers do appear to be reported via some method.

That doesn't mention where their data comes from RavenU (i.e. it doesn't say DVRs report viewing figures) and words like "research" suggest they carried out some sort of study rather than simply crunching numbers on an existing dataset.

I've no doubt DVR viewing impacts ratings and i've no doubt they're counted, not least because I actually supplied a link to published DVR ratings in my last post. What i'm not convinced of (and that article does nothing to change my mind) is the claim that ALL DVRs report what's been viewed on them back to a central repository that's then seen by the networks.

I assume that cable providers could collect viewing data from the dvrs they provide to subscribers, since they can do so many things remotely- but have no idea if they do or not.It would seem sensible for the Neilsen folks to pay them to do it, as it would be simpler than the boxes and more comprehensive as to dvr viewing.

There are huge arguments in the advertising world on the pros and cons of DVR measurement. The issue is demographics. With the Nielsen sampling you get to measure who is watching what when. With pure DVR stats you just know the the what and when. No who. That is less valuable to advertisers.

As far as I know all DVR activity is not measured. There are select cable and satellite companies that sell select data of select groups in select areas, but not all DVR usage by a long shot.